Friday.

I saw a headline this morning which said Vladimir Putin is demanding an "unbiased" investigation of the Malaysian jetliner crash in eastern Ukraine.  I wondered who among those who have the expertise to do the investigation might be considered unbiased and what would be Mr. Putin's definition of "unbiased."  Update: evidently the pro-Russian rebels are now claiming they don't have the black box and Putin claims he won't ask for them when they are found.  This story changes by the moment. Wonder what it will be by the time the news comes on later.

I wonder how much money Sysco made from 2009 to 2013 during which time they made a habit of storing perishable foods in filthy and unrefrigerated sheds?  And I hope the food they are donating to food banks as part of the settlement won't be similarly stored.

For the "damned if you, damned if you don't" file.

Yves Smith has a good cross post from Dahr Jamail concerning the chaos in Iraq.  However, the points she makes in her intro are very appropriate.  I have thought for sometime that our foreign policy has become more incoherent over the last couple of decades.  Russia and the U.S. seem to be on the same side (Malaki's side) in Iraq but working on the opposite sides in Syria.  Saudi Arabia (a supposed ally) and the U.S. are on opposite sides in Iraq and the same side in Syria.  What ever the government's aims are in the various hot spots around the world, making things better for the people who live in those spots receives lip service trotted out merely to soothe the consciences of the American electorate who know shit about the whole mess.

Reading this article I have to say the part which was presented doesn't answer the very important question posed: what purpose is served by the settlement of the case against Citigroup arising out of the mortgage mess?  The bank basically engaged in fraud (even though consultants warned the executives in charge of the bank was illegal) because they didn't want to miss out on a lucrative business.  The settlement doesn't provide a deterrent against future fraudulent behavior.  So what is the actual purpose of the settlement?